Student Adaptability and Achievement on a Psychology Conversion Course

Adaptability refers to an individual’s cognitive, behavioural, and emotional adjustment in the face of novel, changing, or uncertain situations. A growing literature has demonstrated the influence of adaptability on students’ academic outcomes at primary, secondary level, and more recently, tertiary levels; however, its influence on students’ academic outcomes on postgraduate psychology conversion courses – who are typically transitioning back into education and focusing on a different academic discipline – has yet to be examined. In this study, students enrolled on a postgraduate psychology conversion course in higher education were assessed for their adaptability, academic motivation, and academic background in semester 1. Their academic achievement (grade point average) was then obtained from the Student Records System, along with demographic information at the end of semester 3 upon course completion. Bivariate (zero order) correlation analyses revealed that only adaptability and disability status were significantly associated with academic achievement. A multiple regression analysis revealed that adaptability was the strongest predictor of academic achievement. These findings have important implications for researchers and educators seeking to understand students’ adjustment to university –and postgraduate psychology conversion courses in particular – and its influence on academic outcomes

Targeted delivery of lopinavir to HIV reservoirs in the mesenteric lymphatic system by lipophilic ester prodrug approach

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. The combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) can efficiently suppress HIV replication, but the cessation of cART usually results in viral rebound, mostly due to the presence of viral reservoirs. The mesenteric lymphatic system, including mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs), is an important viral reservoir into which antiretroviral drugs poorly penetrate. In this work, we proposed a novel lipophilic ester prodrug approach, combined with oral lipid-based formulation, to efficiently deliver lopinavir (LPV) to the mesenteric lymph and MLNs. A series of prodrugs was designed using an in-silico model for prediction of affinity to chylomicrons (CMs), and then synthesized. The potential for mesenteric lymphatic targeting and bioconversion to LPV in physiologically relevant media was assessed in vitro and ex vivo. Subsequently, LPV and selected prodrug candidates were evaluated for their in vivo pharmacokinetics and biodistribution in rats. Oral co-administration of lipids alone could not facilitate the delivery of unmodified LPV to the mesenteric lymphatic system and resulted in undetectable levels of LPV in these tissues. However, a combination of the lipophilic prodrug approach with lipid-based formulation resulted in efficient targeting of LPV to HIV reservoirs in mesenteric lymph and MLNs. The maximum levels of LPV in mesenteric lymph were 1.6- and 16.9-fold higher than protein binding-adjusted IC90 (PA-IC90) of LPV for HIV-1 (140 ng/mL) following oral administration of simple alkyl ester prodrug and activated ester prodrug, respectively. Moreover, the concentrations of LPV in MLNs were 1.1- and 7.2-fold higher than PA-IC90 following administration of simple alkyl ester prodrug and activated ester prodrug, respectively. Furthermore, the bioavailability of LPV was also substantially increased following oral administration of activated ester prodrug compared to unmodified LPV. This approach, especially if can be translated to other antiretroviral drugs, has potential for reducing the size of HIV reservoirs within the mesenteric lymphatic system

Young Children's spelling representations and spelling strategies

While traditional models of spelling describe the skills and knowledge required for development, the underlying cognitive processes that drive spelling success are often overlooked. Ninety-six English-speaking children, aged 5-to-7 years, completed two tasks which provided a direct measure of their spelling recognition and spelling production, respectively. Using a combination of performance measures and self-explanations, we assessed the relationship between children's performance on both the recognition and procedural tasks. Two separate hierarchical cluster analyses identified distinct profiles based on children's spelling recognition and spelling production, respectively. While these different profiles appeared related, log-linear analysis confirmed that the relations between recognition and production profiles were strongly moderated by children's spelling experience. Overall, the findings provide further support for application of the Representational Redescription (RR) and Overlapping Waves (OW) models in relation to young children's spelling acquisition within an English orthography